An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Increased Judicial Oversight and Court-Ordered Batterer Intervention Programming in Milwaukee County Misdemeanor Domestic Violence Cases: Preliminary Findings

Abstract

In 1999, Milwaukee County was one of three locations in the United States chosen by the Office on Violence Against Women to participate in the Judicial Oversight Demonstration Initiative (JODI). JODI was a five year project aimed at testing the idea of whether an organized community response to domestic violence, with increased judicial and criminal justice involvement, would affect victims' safety and offender accountability. Due to its involvement with JODI, Milwaukee County implemented a number of procedural changes intended to increase victim safety, increase offender accountability, and reduce instances of domestic violence. The most prominent change was the institution of probation review hearings, followed closely by the requirement that domestic violence probationers attend batterer intervention programming. Although studies have reviewed the effectiveness of these procedural changes on offender accountability and recidivism, none have examined offender recidivism data past 2005. This preliminary review extends prior studies with an examination of the effectiveness of probation review hearings and court-ordered batterer intervention programming up to a seven year period.